love day

i love valentines day. i love that its whole purpose is a celebration of love. and i love it because its the day bj proposed to me :-). every valentines we go eat at Maggiano's little italy and as usual, it was delish. their cheesecake is super yummy so we got it to go because we were both too stuffed to eat anymore. after dinner we made our way to the hotel suite bj booked for us to stay in that night.


bj booked our hotel online, so neither of us had actually seen it before....and our hotel "suite" didnt end up being quite what we thought it would be. the street we stayed on had 3 or 4 hotels right next to each other. so, we pulled up to the hotel we thought we were staying at and it looked great. i was so excited to get out and find our room! then we realized we were at the wrong place. ours was the hotel next door. so im thinking, oohh okay im sure it will be great too. we drive over to the correct hotel. hmm. it looks a little dingy but im sure the inside will be beautiful. we get our things and go in. not quite the plush hotel we were imagining. hmm. im sure its fine, maybe the lobby is just a little outdated and the employees are aloud to have wrinkled clothes. sure. check in, walk upstairs. sweet 1980s carpet on the way up. our room will be great though, im sure. walk inside....and no, it wasn't so great. it was just like the rest of the hotel. it wasn't a cheap room and it was in a nice area so we just stood there a little confused. it was already paid for though, so we got over it and made ourselves comfortable. i wish i could remember exactly what the description of the "suite" was on the website bc as we were walking through the room bj was quoting it to me and i was laughing so hard!! the descriptions could not have been further from what was actually in front of us.

an obviously pleased bj showing off our room

and here she is

the modern popcorn ceiling

the huge bathtub..

one thing i DID love were the mirrors!! you knows those mirrors that make you look like a much taller, more slender version of yourself?? they had these all over the place. and i loved them.

bj showing the huge tv that was slightly bigger than his hand

sweet furniture

and it wouldn't be a holiday if bj didn't ruin a perfectly good picture

despite the hotel mishap it was a really great valentines day. we got to laugh about the hotel all night and morning...and it still makes me laughing just thinking about it. haha. it was also kinda fun to just spend the night away from home.... even though we knew our bed at home was more comfortable :-). bj gave me some really pretty earrings and i gave him a nice pen with his initials engraved on it (that still has not come in the mail yet..what the crap).

thanks for making it a very memorable and special valentines, beej. love you!

meet your meat???

i know, i know.... soon i will post about something real. hopefully. a little while back i decided i was going to start blogging a lot more so i could make a book out of my blog....and it seems like as soon as i decided to do that, i stopped blogging. interesting how that happens. anyway, this post is probably not interesting to most of you so feel free to stop reading, i just wanted to get some feed back on this subject.

a few days ago i was blog browsing and somehow ended up on this website
http://venividiveganed.blogspot.com/ . its a vegan cooking blog. she is lds. it sparked my interest bc a while back i was a vegetarian for like 6 months. i read a book about it, it grossed me out and i couldn't eat meat. then summer sales started for bj and due the the lack of cooking during those months, i slowly started eating meat again. now i eat meat fine. in fact last night i had a red robin hamburger. yum. from time to time i will remember the gross details in the book and will go a week or so without eating it or something. but nothing consistent.

in addition to that though, what about the word of wisdom??? "eat meat sparingly". i know my sister in laws and i have talked about this subject before and we never really came to a solid conclusion on what it means. or at least in my head its still kinda cloudy. does it mean sparingly in comparison to what general population eats? bc over 50% of our nation is obese. or what about "in winter or famine only"....hmmm again, if 50% of our nation is obese, I'm pretty sure there is no famine going on in my neighborhood. or yours. is that part of the word of wisdom more important than what we give it credit for, but sometimes we don't give it a second thought because consuming meat is so much a part of our cultures diet??? red meat and processed lunch meats are the leading causes of colon cancer, at least according to Dr. Oz :-). coincidence???

these are some of the quotes she put on her blog

*John A. Widtsoe, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, wrote in a book on the Word of Wisdom, "It was shown in the history of plant science that plants contain all the necessary food substances: proteins, fats, starches and the carbohydrates, minerals...water [and] vitamins. The Great builder of the earth provided well for the physical needs of His children. Countless varieties of edible plants, vegetables, cereals, fruits and nuts are yielded by Mother Nature for man's daily food. If one uses meat it must be used sparingly and in winter or famine only.... They who wish to be well and gain the promised reward stated in the Word of Wisdom must obey all of the law, not just part of it as suits their whim or their appetite, or their notion of its meaning." (The Word of Wisdom, a Modern Interpretation, 1950)

*Elder Benson "To a significant degree, we are an overfed and undernourished nation digging an early grave with our teeth, and lacking the energy that could be ours.... We need a generation of young people who, as Daniel, eat in a more healthy manner than to fare on the 'kings meat' ---and whose countenances show it." (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson pp. 476-7) His reference, of course, is to the biblical Daniel who, as a student in the Babylonian royal court, opted for simple vegetarian food and whose superior health quickly became visible to others. See Daniel, Chapter 1 in the Old Testament or the wonderful account in Antiquities of the Jews by Josephus, Book 10, Chapter 10, verses 1-2 for details." -quoted from Jim Catano

*"Flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly; And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine" (D&C 89:12-13

*"Blood shall not be shed, only for meat, to save your lives; and the blood of every beast will I require at your hands" (JST Gen. 9:11).

she also had this video on there....its pretty gross. interesting though.



lately i've just been thinking about this topic in general. i am not saying one way or the other is right or wrong. just curious and trying to figure out how i feel about the subject. bj pointed out that unless we look it up, we don't know the exact context of those quotes , so it doesn't necessarily mean they are directed to us right now. with the video too, the makers of the video obviously have a strong opinion about what they are sharing so they are using evidence that supports their opinion. that doesn't mean its the norm in the industry or that there isn't a flip side to what they are showing.

anyway, insights? opinions? thoughts??? anyone out there know the right answer??? do tell.

ps-pretty good timing with thanksgiving right around the corner, eh?? my bad.

off white

conversation yesterday morning:

kat: i think we are supposed to be there at 12:30 to get our class ready for the primary program. right?
bj: yea i dont know. i think so. your shirt looks dirty and dingy.
kat: oh okay. wait, what?
bj: nothing.
kat: did you say my shirt looks dirty and dingy?
bj: um. yes. and it does. those white shirts of yours get dirty so fast
kat: bj my shirt is off white.
bj: we should really buy you some more of those white undershirts you use so often
kat: i said my shirt is OFF white bj. its cream. its supposed to look like this.
bj:. oh. well its kinda ugly.


lol....gotta appreciate the boys honesty ;-).

*and yes, shortly after this conversation i changed into my actual white shirt. not because i agreed, but because i didn't want the whole ward to think i was wearing a dirty shirt when in fact my shirt was just off white. OFF WHITE.

girls weekend

ashley, heather and virg came down from utah to visit us this weekend. it was SO much fun! we talked, laughed a lot, shopped, ate, played games, and talked some more. it was the first time i have stayed up past 1:00 am in a looonnng time. the only bummer part about the weekend was that it was HOT. i have been/am trying to convince heather and nick to come to medical school here, and this weekends 104 degree weather didn't really help my case. and of course, the day after she goes back to utah the amazing weather decides to come back.

it was such a fun weekend and i cant wait to see those 3 girls again, hopefully soon!

fall dip

this weekend i made this yummy dip. its perfect for this time of year and was sooo easy to make. i have only had it with apples but it would be good on bread, ginger bread cookies, gram cracks or other fruit too. actually anything. its delicious.

yummy pumpkin dip

1 package of cream cheese

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup pumpkin pie filling

1 tsp vanilla

mix until creamy and smooth. enjoy!

bragging rights

excuse me for a second but im going brag about some of the talented people im related to. my wonderful sister (basically) heather took some pictures of my beautiful sister virg. they turned out amazing. they are so fun, creative and TOTALLY fit virg.

so if you are in the utah area and are looking for an amazing photographer go to

http://heatherannettephotography.blogspot.com/

she has such good prices, takes great pictures AND will have you laughing the whole time! you cant beat that really.

also if you are in the utah area and are lookin for a single hottie call 940-595-......juuuust kidding virg! haha. but for real she is on my blog list.... just sayin :-)

anyway, here they are! hot dang, im related to some very talented and beautiful people!

these are a few of my favorite things....

lately i've been loving....

1. my magic bullet! it helps me make yummy healthy smoothies every morning, without the clean up of a normal blender. yuck.

2. roasted red pepper hummus. with sliced up cucumber or peppers it makes a perfect healthy snack. yum.

3. mayday parade. they are a band that ashley recently introduced me to and i really like them. i guess they have been around for a while but i am just finding out about them. i tend to not find out about "cool" stuff until years after it comes out. so if anyone out there further outside the loop than i, here is a great "new" band you will like.

4. my pink kitchen aid mixer. oh wait...i don't have this. yet. christmas is coming up. what a coincidence. hint, hint beej ;-). 5. my swivel sweeper. truly heaven sent. it makes cleaning up so much easier. if you don't have one, you should.

5. duke. i love this little guy. what a smart, sweet, quiet, lovable puppy.

and uuuhh...not so much moose. for obvious reasons. anyone want a dog? he is for sale. pure bred chocolate lab. slightly special. ill take $50 or your best offer.... and i have zero offers, so try me. i beg of you.